The Osborne story, without any supporting evidence, soon ran out of steam. Perhaps, Brown, with his history of untimely intervention, put the sticker in when he called for an investigation. The Electoral Commission wisely rejected any investigation without clearer evidence of wrongdoing.
This gives us a taste of those politicians who would make hay out of hearsay, wasting resources and using bureaucracy to tie their opponents in knots:
Opposition MPs have tried to force the watchdog to launch an inquiry into the events surrounding the meetings between Mr Osborne and Andrew Feldman, the Tory chief executive, and Oleg Deripaska while on holiday in Corfu this summer.
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, wrote to Sam Younger, the chairman of the Electoral Commission, urging him to investigate the matter or explain why the matter falls outside his legal jurisdiction.
He said: "The law suggests that George Osborne and Andrew Feldman have been sailing very close to the wind. The Electoral Commission should either launch an inquiry or clarify its interpretation of the law."...
The Electoral Commission immediately seemed to reject Mr Huhne's letter. A spokesman said: "We have received a letter from Chris Huhne. Our position remains the same, that we have seen no evidence of any offence."
That came as Norman Baker, another Liberal Democrat MP, wrote to John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, asking whether Mr Osborne's stay in the Corfu villa of Mr Rothschild should have been entered in the register of MPs' interests.
Shadowing the company of Brown does revise my notion of Chris Huhne as a prospective Liberal Democrat leader. An opportunistic move that could backfire if a funding scandal it that party. Acting as if you are whiter than white is a poor selection strategy in politics.
This damp squib of a scandal has left Gideon George Osborne besmiched and hopefully wiser.